MSNBC political commentator Chris Matthews appeared on "Morning Joe" Wednesday and said Evangelical Christians don’t understand the politics of Israel because they have "mythical" beliefs about it.

Matthews connected President Donald Trump’s expected decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital to Roy Moore's Senate campaign in Alabama. He said support for Israel among Evangelicals comes from their "crazy ideas about Israel."

"Don't think this isn't related to Alabama next week. It is related," Matthews said. "Because it’s the Christian Evangelicals down there with their crazy ideas about Israel which is, I don't know, mythical."

"They don't understand the situation over there, how tricky it is ethnically and tribally," he added. "They don't care because it's a religious belief. Trump is playing into that this week; you watch him."

Matthews justified his superior knowledge of the situation in Israel by citing the fact he once lived in Jerusalem, and he expressed support for former President Bill Clinton’s strategy of giving concessions to the Palestinians. He said the only hope for peace is for Palestinians to have hope East Jerusalem can be their capital, and in contrast, he argued moving the embassy to Jerusalem will cause deaths.

"Deaths are coming now because of this. You can just bet the next few weeks we'll have hell to pay for this totally erratic decision by this president," Matthews said. "Every party that has had the White House since '48 has recognized you have to be careful over there."

Paul CrookstonEmail Paul | Full Bio | RSSPaul Crookston is the deputy war room director at the Washington Free Beacon. He was previously a Collegiate Network fellow at National Review. A 2016 graduate of Gordon College in Wenham, Mass., he served as the managing editor of the Tartan campus newspaper. He is originally from Tampa, Fla., but he still roots for Dad’s Ohio teams. His Twitter handle is @P_Crookston. He can be reached at crookston@freebeacon.com.